[Beirut]

And so, the battle began.

SEVERAL thousand Syrian rebels have launched what they say will be a decisive battle for control of the strategic northern city of Aleppo.

"Tonight, Aleppo will be ours or we will be defeated," Abu Furat, a rebel commander, told AFP on Thursday afternoon.

Separately, an AFP correspondent saw dozens of rebels grouping in schools in the city's northern Izaa quarter and firing mortars.

Aleppo has been the scene of fierce fighting since July, when rebels launched an offensive to capture the commercial capital.

After some early successes, the rebel campaign slowed because of a shortage of ammunition.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaki ... 6482999772

Rebel band of brothers with a cause

Advance, Advance and Revenge those who have martyred.

[pikachu]

And so, the battle began.

wait what was the fsa doing before? Eating pancakes?

This is minor news so i'm just putting it here.

DAMASCUS: A Syrian rebel commander and a group of fighters told an opposition meeting on Wednesday they had decided to abandon the insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad and return to the regular army.

“We have decided to return to the army and cooperate with the Ministry of National Reconciliation,” said Captain Khaled Abdel Rahman al-Zamel, speaking at a conference organised by opposition groups tolerated by Assad’s regime.

He was accompanied by around 10 other former rebels, none of whom spoke out.

“The solution in Syria does not lie in the use of weapons or violence or explosions or the killing of innocents,” said Zamel.

“We are all Syrians, we reject a revolution that starts with the shedding of blood,” he added.

Delegates applauded Zamel as he called on other rebels to abandon the revolt. An AFP journalist at the conference said his intervention came as a surprise.

“The road is open,” said Zamel, who was identified as the head of the rebel Free Syrian Army’s leadership in the south of the strife-torn country.

Senior diplomats from Russia, Iran and China, the three states that have most staunchly supported Assad’s regime during the 18-month uprising, also attended the gathering.

http://dawn.com/2012/09/27/syrian-rebel ... -uprising/
Double defection!

Leaflets dropped by the SAA:
“Think with your mind, religion is love – religion is tolerance. Religion does not call for killing…Let’s work together according to religious instructions, not at the call of criminals.(...) The security forces have the will to restore security and stability to all the regions of our precious homeland and will not permit the wasting of innocent citizens’ blood. Time is vanishing, so take advantage of this chance: drop your weapons – as many have already done – and remember that the state is as merciful as a mother is to her children.”

[Beirut]

Haha Same old Syrians, they are so fucking hilarious with the stupid stuff they come up with. They've been doing so since ages, it never bores me to laugh on their low IQ, if they have any.
For noobs, make sure such made-up characters have any previous history whatsoever before posting such naive and stupid stuff. Thanks for the laugh though.

[pikachu]

Well, good to know what the biggest arab proponent of the syrian revolution thinks of the syrian people.
I suspect you're the rule, not the exception.

[Rei Murasame]

I think he's saying that Al-Zamel is a fake person that doesn't exist, but was just made up by the Syrian state in order to break morale.

But it seems that he does exist, since he was featured in a CNN piece in 2007 when he was still in with Assad, and the two of them talked to Nancy Pelosi, which is how his name appeared in western media the first time.

The title was apparently "Abdul-Rahman al-Zamel describes Pelosi visit as a "breakthrough"", and it's an article that no longer exists on CNN since it was too old, but a lot of centre-left American forums carry record of that event having occurred.

So basically this guy is for real and exists, and it seems that he defected from Assad and has now defected back to Assad's side.

[Kallinikos]

It could be that both defections were faked, whether he truly joined the rebels for a while or not, I don't know. This is just a supposition, but we have made-up stories every day about Syria by both sides.

As I said before, apart from the usual propaganda the Syrian government has been feeding Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera with fake news in order to disprove them later and discredit those channels, which themselves are making up a lot of stories on their own. Additionally, many videos are faked by the rebels themselves and sometimes they portray the people they tortured and killed themselves as civilians massacred by the regime and vice versa.

That said, the rebels' prospects are worsening, they are whining every day about the lack of external support (aka full-fledged invasion by Turkey and other Nato countries) and this isn't happening. So one can expect that such things could happen, there has been cases of lower-profile guerilleros returning home mainly when their elders and sheiks demanded it.

Pretty much all the media from every side is inaccurate or made up, and speaking of dumb propaganda stunts the last death toll published by the rebels is most probably one: the deadliest day of this uprising happens during a high profile meeting of the UN, a slight variation of the massacre trick they used at every UNSC vote on Syria. This time, since the subject of Syria wasn't on the program officially, they thought it wasn't necessary to gather a few corpses and body parts and record the whole with a shaky device.

[pikachu]

I think he's saying that Al-Zamel is a fake person that doesn't exist

And the way he says it is not a rule 2 violation? Interesting.

As for the declared rebel offensive in Aleppo, it could be either a really stupid move or a smart one, depending on whether they're actually planning to carry out what they claim to. If they're for real, then that seems to be a really stupid move for a host of reasons, primarily because you should never attack the enemy where he most expects you to. That's like a number one rule of war in general, let alone guerrilla war. Not to mention, Aleppo is a city where advancing is very hard if the opposition is present in force, and it's very dubious whether the rebels even have the support of the majority of the population of the city. Every indication so far has been that they don't.
Now what could be happening instead is that they're trying to scare the army into sending more reinforcements to Aleppo before launching the assault elsewhere, maybe even on Damascus. That would be something that would actually make some sense.

[Donna]

If that is true then Al-Zamel is an idiot. He's going to get fucked anyway if Assad suppresses the revolt.

[stalker]

Beirut why don't you sod off to fight in your precious Free Syrian Army already?

[Beirut]

^There are 100K national backing off home because of the weapon shortage...

Pikachu, they teach us in Lebanon to differentiate between Syria, the regime, and Syria the people. I am talking about the regime and his parrots, obviously. That's said, I also have my stuff against those whom I am supporting to the bones, because they either were supporting the regime or did not give a flying fuck about our lives back then yet this is not the right time for that and I am sure the next Free Syria will apologize for the people of Lebanon and do whatever it can to stabilize it, not destruct it.

I think he's saying that Al-Zamel is a fake person that doesn't exist, but was just made up by the Syrian state in order to break morale.

I am not saying that Al-Zamel is fake rather, this whole story is a joke. Well, it is a minor story that Ishould have not commented on but it just make me reminisce their old tales. Also, when a Captain defect to the Revolutionaries you hear all about it in the news; it is funny this guy has no history whatsoever.

[Far-Right Sage]

It's pathetic the manner in which a "new decisive attack" is repetitively announced by them as if they have not been trying to achieve their intended aims for months and failed miserably.

Al-Zamel's words are beautiful - "and remember that the state is as merciful as a mother is to her children.”

Soon enough an internal house cleaning will be in full swing with all the scum purged from Aleppo. Hopefully much of the city can be spared before that point in the conflict which rages, but every brick has to be turned over, but it will be worth it to strike the rats and their treacherous seed to the dust.

[pikachu]

Pikachu, they teach us in Lebanon to differentiate between Syria, the regime, and Syria the people. I am talking about the regime and his parrots, obviously.

In that case you might want to edit that post of yours a little. But I still wouldn't believe you. No matter what you say, your opinion of Syria as a country and its people comes across louder than words.

Al-Zamel's words are beautiful - "and remember that the state is as merciful as a mother is to her children.”

Those aren't his words, those are leaflets dropped by the army in Aleppo.

He's going to get fucked anyway if Assad suppresses the revolt.

I don't think so. He seems to be a pretty prominent figure, and he's defecting straight back to the army at the time when the future of the regime is not certain, so I think it's quite possible that the regime would reward him if it gets the chance. It wouldn't entrust him with any high position, that's for sure, but it would keep him in comfort as a sort of symbol of national reconciliation and what privileges the people can expect as a reward for their cooperation in times good and bad.

If the regime loses, on the other hand...

[Donna]

I'm willing to bet a financial sum that he will disappear if Assad is victorious.

[pikachu]

I'm not giving bets on something that is conditional on something else that is itself uncertain , I'm still waiting on the result of my bet with a bunch of guys here that Assad won't be unseated by January 1st. But honestly I don't see why you'd be so sure of this.

[Donna]

I'm not giving bets on something that is conditional on something else that is itself uncertain

Why not?

You wouldn't by any chance be... chicken? I dare you to make a bet with me.

[pikachu]

Fine, I bet you a dollar he'll die of natural causes.

[Donna]

One dollar? Seriously? I'm putting $50 on the table.

[Siberian Fox]

This is not a gambling website Donald.

[Donna]

I kid, I kid.

[Igor Antunov]

We'll see how decisive it is by the end of next week.